About us

I have been facilitating international gatherings since my first assignment with the UN in 2002. I draw on a deep understanding of personal and group dynamics and am in demand as a facilitator of group processes large and small and as crisis coach for leaders worldwide. I am accredited by the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) as a Certified™ Professional Facilitation. [More...]

Since volunteering with disadvantaged young people in Moss Side Manchester in the late 1960s and then in a South African charity, I held leadership positions including at Save the Children and the British Red Cross before establishing get2thepoint.

I was Regional Director (Europe, Middle East, N Africa) of IAF for three years to 2015 and I continue to play an active part in a vibrant worldwide community of facilitators.

In 2014 I swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco to raise money for prisoners education, and three year later cycled 100 miles for struggling families. I have managed not to come last in six triathlons, enjoy pottering in my garden, and am the proud owner of a 1968 BSA Bantam D14/4 motorbike.

Team

I like working creatively with others and have enjoyed collaborating with many people over many years. Based on openness, shared passion and mutual respect the team changes continually as initiatives and projects come and go.

Andy Connor is an alternative to throwing the laptop out of the window. If email starts doing weird things or the screen goes a funny colour, he’ll work out what to do. Phew.

For over a decade and a half Graham Irwin has been building and maintaining get2thepoint websites. Since 1990 he has been making computer technology ‘easy to use for all and provide a human side to the world of computing.’ He says of himself that ‘I am a compassionate and spiritually aware man who has committed my life to applying my skills and experience to enlarge and enhance the quality of life for all concerned’. Since 2016 he has been a volunteer mentor in the Sitepoint webmaster forums.

Marianne Hartley is the genius who, with Martin, has co-created the get2thepoint branding and design you see on this website. She has been working with Martin since designing the book Meeting Together in 2006. Working in English, French and German, from Basel and London, Marianne is the founder of Hartley and Soul, which creates ‘beautiful designs that truly reflect your passion for your business and its values, engages all of your senses and creates a heart to heart connection that leaves you and your customers feeling connected, engaged and fulfilled. This [is] healing design.’ Indeed it is.

Paul Cursons has been making the get2thepoint books balance for decades. With Paul’s care and eye for detail, it all works wonderfully smoothly. With a life time of experience as an independent book keeper he makes it all seem so easy.

Richard Chapman is a trusted friend and co-facilitator colleague with whom I have worked on a series of projects for some years now in the UK and internationally. Richard is a writer, composer and facilitator of organisation development for civil society. Whatever form his work takes, Richard’s aim is to help bring about those moments of insight and realisation which lead to positive change and transformation. With an intuitive understanding of depth, he is a most insightful guide and fellow-traveller through the often tricky complexities of group dynamics.

Steven Appleby is the lovely person behind all the drawings you see on the site and which you will also see throughout Meeting Together. He is an ‘absurdist cartoonist, illustrator and artist living in Britain.’ His humour has been described as ‘observational or absurd, with a keen sense of the turmoil of fear and obsession that teems beneath the respectable exterior of most of us.’ Just perfect for drawing what really goes on in meetings and in our jumbled minds.

Debbie Bannigan With a life time of observing human beings at work, deep in the trenches of the real world, Debbie knows what makes organisations tick - or not. Powered by a fascination with the struggles which can unfold when well meaning people try to do good, she is blessed with the insight and intellect (and Doctorate in Business Administration to prove it) to be able to make sense of it all. That’s the work she’s doing with Martin. She is drawing out the wisdom arising from Martin's decade and a half of coaching third sector CEOs through crisis and is distilling what may be learnt so that it can be passed on. For the good of all. So watch this space: book, videos, articles, presentations + who knows, a Hollywood blockbuster ... prime time television ... musical? Well whatever next ? ;-)

Raquel Ark walks her talk. And her ‘talk’ is not talking, but listening. She invites you to ‘play and experiment with listening’ and to ‘discover the gold in every circumstance, relationship, team and project’. At Listening Academy she is devoted to ‘sharing ideas, tools and resources that will help you master the art of listening’. We have been and are working together with Fairtrade International and are team members of the Virtual Listening Campus of uLab-S Societal Transformation offered by the Presencing Institute at MIT, Boston USA.

There’s Us and there’s You. We have a lot in common. There’s more that unites us than divides. That's how we see it.

We would love to work with you if you see yourself as part of civil society - an aspiration towards a decent way of living together in local and global communities in which there is a just and sustainable prosperity, in which everyone seeks health, wellbeing and fulfilment and also the relief of suffering for all. In get2thepoint our passion is to help people in groups, organisations and communities for whom a primary purpose is to see this aspiration come true.

You may also see something of yourself here:

You want to see what good can happen when people really meet together;

You value what people can give more than what money can buy;

You would like to understand the connections within and between people;

You are willing to let go of old ways which don’t work any more and are open to letting the new emerge.

I want to put on record as it were my appreciation for all you did for us - not only in the sensitive and upbeat handling in facilitating the meeting; but also for the detailed and meticulous preparation ahead of the 28th - such a vital component to its success. Thank you so much. As well as enabling us as trustees to have a much needed opportunity to mull things over in detail, ponder on learning, identify further issues to bottom out and draw a line and move on; I think it did more: it felt like some healing went on too.

Get2thepoint offsets all carbon from travel and supports the FairClimateFund. Based in the Netherlands and with projects on three continents, the FairClimateFund finances projects which reduce carbon emissions and offer a better future to the most vulnerable.